“We’ve made a decision as a league, this morning, as owners, that play will be suspended temporarily. Target on that is 30 days.” managing owner Jorge Mas told the assembled press this afternoon. “We are working, and the league is working on rescheduling the games. We fully anticipate that we will play all of our 34 games.”

“We want to protect our players, and protect our fans, as much as possible.”

As Inter Miami CF kicks off its first game this afternoon, I’ve been doing some thinking. I wasn’t always a fan of soccer. In fact, I spent most of my adolescence harboring a strong dislike of the sport. Soccer was boring, no one ever scored, it was for other countries and not the United States.

Obviously, if you’ve read this website or listened to our podcast, you know that opinion has changed radically. It was a process that started in my hometown of Baltimore, but took hold in Miami. I learned to appreciate, then love, The Beautiful Game.

By the time my appreciation of soccer took hold, around 2008, I was driving to pubs on Miami Beach or Oakland Park to watch my club team, Liverpool. And I was also aware of a plan by F.C. Barcelona and Marcelo Claure to bring Major League Soccer to Miami. My first thought was: “Yeah, why the hell doesn’t Miami have MLS already?” My second thought was: “Awesome!”

My first thought was answered when I researched and discovered there had been a Miami team, and that it had been contracted after the 2001 season. My second thought was slowly killed off by the Great Recession and Barcelona’s abandonment of the project in 2009. It would be more than a decade before Major League Soccer would actually return.

On Monday morning, Inter Miami CF preseason opened its first preseason at Buccaneer Field on the campus of Barry University. Three members of the club spoke to the press about the first day, and what could be coming. You can see and hear their full comments, with limited editing, below.

First, Sporting Director Paul McDonough spoke to the media, giving some insight about how many players may still be added to the squad and how players may — or may not — be added as the season goes along.

Inter Miami CF selected Clemson University forward Robbie Robinson Monday afternoon with the first pick of the 2020 MLS Superdraft.

Robinson, the MAC Hermann Trophy winner for the 2019 season, appeared in 19 games and scored 18 goals. He also contributed nine assists.

His 18 goals tied him with Thibaut Jacquel of Campbell and Cal Jennings of UCF for the Division I lead.

Inter Miami sporting director Paul McDonough has experience with the Superdraft. In 2015 with Orlando City SC’s first pick, he chose Cyle Larin, who contributed to the club for three years before a transfer to Turkey’s Beşiktaş.

McDonough led expansion side Atlanta United into the 2017 draft, selecting Miles Robinson at No. 2 and Julian Gressel at No. 9. Robinson has made 44 appearances for Atlanta, while Gressel has made 98, totaling 15 goals.

This is the first Superdraft pick in the club’s history. The club selected Georgetown midfielder Dylan Nealis with pick No. 3.

Magic City Soccer will take the last 10 days of 2019 to review the last 10 years of Miami-Dade County soccer. Today in Miami Soccer in Review, we take a look back at 2017. The Miami FC makes an enthralling U.S. Open Cup run, and Jorge Mas offers a lifeline to a Miami Beckham United ready to quit.

Magic City Soccer will take the last 10 days of 2019 to review the last 10 years of Miami-Dade County soccer. Today in Miami Soccer in Review, we take a look back at 2014. The announcement Miami’s been waiting for finally comes. And kicks off a half-decade of more waiting.

It was a picture-perfect moment for a picture-perfect day. Don Garber, commissioner of Major League Soccer on one side. Carlos Giménez, mayor of Miami-Dade County on the other. All around, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, a focal point for Miami’s modern development. And standing squarely in the middle: David Beckham.

Magic City Soccer will take the last 10 days of 2019 to review the last 10 years of Miami-Dade County soccer. Here, we begin our look back at a decade of Miami soccer in review with 2010, an Annus Horribilis.

The decade of the 2010s was supposed to open with a bang for the Miami soccer community. In October 2008, Barcelona announced that it would be partnering with Brightstar Corp. CEO Marcelo Claure to bring an Major League Soccer team to FIU Stadium, possibly as soon as 2010.

If you know anything about soccer in Miami this decade, you know this couldn’t have compared less favorably with what actually happened. In fact, the only constant was Claure, now involved in the ownership of Inter Miami CF.